World Bank to expand lending to developing countries

WASHINGTON — The World Bank announced Tuesday that it is doubling its potential lending to so-called middle-income countries like China, India and Brazil, adding about $100 billion in new financing capacity over the next decade.

The move will bolster the resources available to the fast-growing developing countries where most of the world’s poorest people live, and comes while the bank is undergoing a sweeping reorganization.

As its spring meetings approach — they will be held jointly with the International Monetary Fund in mid-April — the bank said it would increase its annual lending to middle-income countries to as much as $28 billion, up from $15 billion. Over the next decade, the lending capacity for those countries through its International Bank for Reconstruction and Development will total about $300 billion.